Adam Edelman, New York Daily News

May 7, 2015

Ricardo Arduengo/AP

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is widely thought to be the frontrunner for the GOP 2016 presidential nomination, but his porn-investment past could cause problems with the conservative wing of the party.

Jeb Bush invested more than $1 million from the Florida state pension fund in pornography while he was governor, a new bombshell report alleges.

The former Florida governor, while in office, invested $1.3 million from the fund into Movie Gallery, a publicly traded video rental giant that offered a wide selection of pornographic films along with mainstream movies, the International Business Times reported.

Bush, who as governor was a trustee on the board overseeing the state's $149 billion pension system, purchased more than 47,000 shares in the company in 2005, the Times reported, citing emails it obtained from Bush's tenure in office.

The state later sold its Movie Gallery shares in 2006 after the stock didn't perform as well as expected. Movie Gallery, which also owned all Hollywood Video franchises, closed up shop entirely in 2010 as the video and DVD rental business model faltered amid industry changes.

However, during the time the state owned the shares, social conservatives across Flordia and the nation were outraged — a problem that could resurface for the centrist Republican as he seeks the Republican 2016 presidential nomination in a field of candidates packed with outspoken social conservatives.

When news of the investment became publicly known in 2005, American Family Association founder Donald Wildmon widely encouraged his supporters to oppose Bush.

"Movie Gallery shades hundreds of its stores with 'back rooms,' filled with thousands of videos and magazines exhibiting morbid depictions of sex," Wildmon reportedly wrote in a 2005 mass email to supporters. "By investing in Movie Gallery stock, the state of Florida is giving its stamp of approval on hard-core porn. Tell the Florida Board of Administration to get out of the porn business by divesting itself of Movie Gallery stock."

"Have you people lost your minds," an outraged conservative voter wrote in an email to Bush, the Times reported. Another unhappy conservative constituent wrote that porn was "enslaving men and women to its addiction."

A representative for Bush did not immediately respond to a request for comment.